Here we are again dealing with another American tragedy, Yet another Black man, Tyre Nichols, was beaten to death by five Memphis police officers.
What made this even more tragic is that he was beaten by five Black police officers while some of their white colleagues who were watching the body cam footage cheered them on.
When does it end? As an African-American myself, to be honest, I expect white cops to do something terrible because that’s normally how this plays out. But to see your own take pleasure out of beating a man to death for no reason other than just being evil hurts even more.
Change is needed at all levels and we all need to do our part. We can’t lose our humanity as a society.
To the Nichols’ family and Memphis community, my heart is with you tonight.
— Chris Paul (@CP3) January 28, 2023
Seriously what the hell is going on in this country? I honestly don’t see how any Black athlete could take the field or the court after watching what took place.
Memphis is home to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. I wonder how it has affected the players to know that these five officers could have just as easily done this to them. I’m sure they have thought about it. Then, they’re asked to forget about it and step out on the court to play basketball in front of mostly white faces.
TOO FACTUAL!!! https://t.co/Om43WiAzrN
— LeBron James (@KingJames) January 28, 2023
I wouldn’t blame the Grizzlies players if they had said no to playing on Friday night. We ask a lot of our athletes. We ask them to be good, perform at a top level every night, and basically forget what’s going on in the world. But this one is going to be hard to forget anytime soon.
Just like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the people who are supposed to protect and serve us once again didn’t. They killed this young man, a man who was just taking pictures of a sunset and heading home, for nothing. This man, who just like George Floyd, was crying out to be saved by his mama, is gone.
And yet we are expecting Black men to play a game for our entertainment when their lives are on the line every day, knowing in the back of their minds, that this could have easily happened to them too.
About Stacey Mickles
Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.